Then, he allegedly dragged her into the second-floor men's bathroom, where he beat and raped her.

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"She really didn't have much of a chance to defend herself at all," said Chief Inspector Keith Sadler, during a news conference yesterday at Police Headquarters.

"But she was able to provide police a description of her assailant before losing consciousness."

The victim suffered a concussion and other injuries.

She was treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and released, Sadler said.

Holmes, who lives with his grandmother on 11th Street near Berks - behind the university - was arrested yesterday in the basement of a relative's house on 11th Street near Norris after police said they matched his DNA to that collected from the crime scene.

He was charged with sexual assault, false imprisonment, attempted murder, burglary, attempted rape and a slew of related offenses.

He is being held on $500,000 bail.

Yesterday, Holmes' family maintained his innocence, saying he would never harm anyone.

"He's the type to give a homeless person the last bit of change he has," said his sister Shakeya Holmes, 17.

"He's also a handsome "pretty boy" who gets a lot of girls, she said.

"Girls throw themselves at him. He wouldn't have to do that," she said, referring to raping someone.

Holmes' other sister, Alicia Rafferty, 19, said her brother couldn't be responsible for the crime because he wasn't in town.

She said he'd been in the Poconos, hiding from police after escaping from a detention facility, where he was being held for a prior unrelated offense.

Although his family acknowledges Holmes' long rap sheet, they blame it on the company he's kept.

Meanwhile, Holmes has proclaimed his innocence in calls to his family from jail.

"He told me he didn't do it," Shakeya said."He said, 'Believe me, I didn't do it. What I look like raping a female?'"

Holmes' preliminary hearing is scheduled for 8 a.m. next Tuesday at the 22nd Police District headquarters, 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue. *